Category: Competition

The 1893 European championship

Bev

The International Skating Union (ISU) was founded in 1892 and held its first official competition in 1893—the European championship in Berlin. The speed skating events went well. The figure skating event began the tradition of judging controversies.

The problem was figuring out whether Eduard Engelmann or Henning Grenander won. Engelmann had won the previous year, before the ISU took charge. An article published a few days later in The Field summarized the events:

From The Field, January 28, 1893, p. 111. Courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive.

This article ignored the systemic problem underlying the controversy: how do you add up the judges scores?

An article by Carl Fillunger published the next day in the Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung gives full details of the scores.

From Carl Fillunger, “Zur Aufklärung,” Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, January 29, 1893, p. 105. Courtsey of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.

The problem is that some of the judges gave the skaters half points. Engelmann got 1987 points plus 4 half-points. Grenander got 1988 points plus 2 half-points. If you round the half-points down, Grenander wins. If you keep them as half-points, there’s a tie (and Engelmann wins because the figures break the tie). If you round up, Engelmann wins.

Fillunger proposed counting the half-points as half-points and gives the title to Grenander. Instead, the ISU declared the competition invalid. But 77 years later, when the ISU published 75 Years of European and World’s Championships in Figure Skating, they gave Engelmann the title—with a footnote invalidating it and the results calculated using ordinals instead of points.

References

Carl Fillunger, “Zur Aufklärung,” Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, January 29, 1893, 105.

“The figure-skating championship,” The Field, January 28, 1893, 111.

International Skating Union. 1970. 75 Years of European and World’s Championships in Figure Skating. Results in Figure Skating. Davos, Switzerland: International Skating Union.

The Paulsen brothers

Bev

Axel Paulsen made history in 1882, when he performed the jump that bears his name at a competition in Vienna. What’s less well known is that his brother was also there. In fact, they skated together. Demeter Diamantidi wrote a nice article previewing the competitors for the Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung. It was published the day before the competition began. Here’s what it had to say about them (translation my own).

The brothers Axel and Edwin Paulsen from Oslo, artistic skaters and most outstanding members of the ice club in Oslo, which has over 8000 members, are very interesting phenomena and attracted general attention in the morning hours with their truly classic joint program, in which it is often virtually impossible to separate them from each other due to the rapidity of the movements and the identical performances.

What was this “gemeinsame Production” (joint program)? It sounds like a pairs program! I’ve run across mentions of women skating pairs together, but two men skating together is unusual. The Syerses note that the ISU regulations allow pairs to be mixed or similar.

In the solo, Axel Paulsen portrayed himself by a positively phenomenal jump with a double twist on a backwards edge the like of which has never been seen before and a sensational sit spin with deep knee bend.

The achievements of these men in compulsory figures cannot be judged at this time, because they are very reserved in this respect. At a glance, one sees that the Haynes school is not without influence on their evolutions, although they do not seem to have copied every advantage that accompanied each of his movements and in which he is unmatched to this day.

I think this means they didn’t do the compulsory figures. They’re not mentioned in the section on figures in the follow-up article with the results.

D. Diamantidi, “Das grosse internationale Eisfest in Wien,” Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, January 19, 1882, 48–49.

In the big international flat race six times around the track = an English mile = 1600 meters, Axel will give Mr. Aune much to do, because although he is much smaller, he has developed fabulous speed and endurance. He wished the track was longer.

Our ice master, Hussek, described him in his original way as a “young locomotive”; overall, the Paulsen brothers have stolen the hearts of the entire staff at the Vienna Skating Club.

Axel did win the big speed race. Edwin challenged Callie Curtis in a race for professionals.

References

Demeter Diamantidi. “Das grosse internationale Eisfest in Wien.” Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, January 19, 1882, 48–49.

Demeter Diamantidi. “Internationales Preis-Figuren Eislauffn [sic]: Wien gewinnt!” Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, January 26, 1882, 69–70.

“Das internationale Preis-Wett-Eislaufen.” Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, January 26, 1882, 70–71.

Edgar Syers and Madge Syers, eds. 1908. The Book of Winter Sports. London: Edward Arnold.

Women in the European Championships

Bev
Frank Gillett, The Graphic, March 7, 1908, 325. Image copyright the British Library Board, courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive.

Dorothy Greenhough-Smith’s Wikipedia page notes that “[s]he never competed at the European Figure Skating Championship because the ladies event was not added to the program until 1930.” That’s true as far as it goes—Hines’s list of competitors in Figure Skating in the Formative Years does indeed show the ladies’ event starting in 1930—but is its absence really an excuse?

In 1904, Madge Syers entered the European Championship. The Field reported that

On the whole Mrs Syers executed most of the school figures admirably, her turns being clean, her edges good, and the tracing excellent, most noticeable being her execution of the three change three, but she found considerable difficulty with the bracket change bracket and loop change loop.

The Field, January 23, 1904, 131

But when it came time for the freestyle, Syers withdrew from the competition.

The weather on the second day of the competition did not prove very favorable, snow was falling slightly, and there was a fairly stiff breeze, both of which interfered materially with the skating of the free figures. Mrs Syers wisely decided not to skate her programme, the wind, of course, being a much greater handicap to her than to the other competitors.

The Field, January 23, 1904, 131

Despite her withdrawal, Syers’ participation showed experimentally that women were allowed to compete in the European Championship.

In the days leading up the the 1908 Olympics, the Westminster Gazette published a somewhat startling opinion regarding co-ed competition:

Messrs. Greig, March, and Yglesias, who will skate on behalf of the United Kingdom, have enjoyed none of the experience of their more favoured rivals, and their chances of success are not considered very bright. Indeed, there is one British lady, Mrs. Syers, who is their superior, and, in fact, the superior of any British figure-skater. Had the practice adopted in the World’s European and British Championships, of opening the lists to both sexes, been followed in the Olympic competition, Mrs. Syers would undoubtedly have been selected for the first event. As it is, she ought to have no great difficulty in winning the ladies’ gold medal.

Westminster Gazette, October 17, 1908, 16; emphasis added

It sounds to me as if women weren’t barred from the European Championships before 1930. Dorothy Greenhough-Smith can’t use the lack of a ladies’ event as an excuse.

Junior and senior singles and pairs in 1906

Bev1 Comment

The Figure Skating Club held competitions in single and pair skating at Prince’s Skating Club on March 17 and 21, 1906. The Field reported that

The inclusion of pair-skating in the club programme proved a great attraction, and a good entry was secured in both the senior and junior sections.

“The Figure Skating Club,” The Field, March 24, 1906, 471. Courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive.

Seven skaters (all men) entered the senior singles competition, and seven (all women) entered the junior singles competition. Six of the seven women were “Miss”; the only married woman was Mrs. Smith, who I presume is Dorothy Greenhough-Smith, who went on to win the ladies’ bronze in the 1908 Olympics. She won the event.

It’s quite interesting that senior = men and junior = women, seemingly without being planned that way. The Field remarks that the event was “composed entirely of ladies,” as if that were not necessary: this was not intended as a ladies’ event, and yet it became one. I suspect that the senior event was not intended as a men’s event.

What is even more interesting to me is the pairs. There were three senior pairs, each composed of a man and a woman, and five junior pairs, each composed of two women. I wonder what was behind this division.

From “The Figure Skating Club,” The Field, March 24, 1906, 471. Courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive.